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Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment is the company that brought you the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises of gaming software. Besides the general list of products below, this article contains links to websites dedicated to Blizzard's specific products and the company in general, if you choose to look for more in-depth information on them. On December 2, 2007, Vivendi (Blizzard Entertainment's previous parent company) announced that their subsidiary Vivendi Games (of which Blizzard Entertainment was one of the divisions) would be merging with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. This merger will not affect Blizzard Entertainment's operations. This deal was finalized on July 8, 2008. Published games Warcraft universe ;Computer games *''Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'' *''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' *''Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal'' *''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' *''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' *''World of Warcraft'' *''World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade'' *''World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'' *''World of Warcraft: Cataclysm'' *''World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria ;Other games *Related pen-and-paper RPG materials *Warcraft: The Board Game **World of Warcraft: The Board Game *World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game StarCraft universe *''StarCraft'' *''StarCraft: Brood War'' *Related novels by PocketBooks *''StarCraft II'' Diablo universe *''Diablo'' *''Diablo II'' *''Diablo II: Lord of Destruction'' *''Diablo III *Related novels by PocketBooks Others *''Rock N' Roll Racing'' *''Blackthorne'' *''The Lost Vikings'' *''The Lost Vikings II'' Canceled games * Warcraft Adventures Indefinitely postponed games * StarCraft: Ghost Confirmed upcoming projects * Other additional World of Warcraft expansions * Rumored games Note: Blizzard has confirmed that they are NOT working on a StarCraft or Diablo MMORPG. *''Warcraft IV'' would be another epic whose plot remains unknown. *Future MMORPG ("Titan?"). ** "When we announce our next MMORPG it's not going to be another WoW - we're not a company that tends to tread the same ground. It'll be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level." Employees Notable * Tom Chilton * Samwise Didier * Drawgoon (Peter Lee) * Mark Gibbons * Chris Metzen * Fargo (Dave Kosak) * Mumper (Cory Stockton) * Ghostcrawler (Greg Street) * Michael Morhaime * Frank Pearce * Raneman (Glenn Rane) * Travis Thammer * Twincruiser (René Koiter and Michel Koiter) Organizations * Community Managers * Sons of the Storm * Voice actors Previous employees * Bill Roper Influence of Activision and Vivendi Prior to the Activision Blizzard merger, Vivendi took an almost complete hands off approach to Blizzard, but as soon as the merger happened it was clear that Blizzard had little influence at the top levels of the combined company. The board of directors has literally no former Blizzard Entertainment employees, while 6 of the total of 11 directors are from Vivendi or its other subsidiaries. The 5 other directors are all former Activision executives. The senior corporate management consists of 7 former Activision executives plus Mike Morhaime of Blizzard and one outsider (not from Vivendi either). Former CEO of Activision, Robert Kotick, is the CEO of the new combined company. So, although Blizzard had not really been an independent company since their purchase by Viviendi, the management result of the combined company was effectively a corporate takeover by Activision with oversight by Vivendi. One of their current directors also appears to look at Blizzard as more of a resource for Activision. How much autonomy is Blizzard going to retain – and is there scope to use Activison and Vivendi’s licences within that division? Blizzard has established the most successful business in all of video games. It’s not like we need to go there and fix something. Blizzard will continue to operate as they have done in the past – fairly independently. They have a top notch management and development team and we have a very high degree of confidence that they know how to run the business and a track record to prove it. In addition, they have an extraordinarily strong product pipeline, with Starcraft, Wrath of the Litch King and Diablo 3. It’s tremendous, and it would be a big mistake for us to distract them with new ideas. But there are some opportunities we will be exploring, especially relating to their expertise in Asia. If you consider that Guitar Hero is not in Asia yet and that the only way to create a business there is figuring out ways to work in internet cafes, etc., we hope to benefit from their expertise. Tippl is supposed to be answering a question about the autonomy of Blizzard within Activision Blizzard, but seems only to see how Blizzard's experience in Asia can help one of Activision's major titles. It also isn't clear what "fairly independently" means. References External links ;Info ;News Jul 26th 2013 12:59AM}} Jun 29th 2012 at 8:00PM}} Bashiok, 2/29/12 9:30 AM (vague layoff notice)}} Vaneras, 29/02/12 17:30 (vague layoff notice)}} Feb 29th 2012 at 12:47PM}} ;Old news Oct 8th 2008 at 11:00AM}} da:Blizzard Entertainment de:Activision Blizzard ru:Blizzard Entertainment Category:Blizzard Entertainment